My name is Laura, and I am a HR Administrator here at South Staffordshire Plc

The format of this interview is basically going to be competency based, giving you the opportunity to
talk about any relevant skills or experience you feel are relevant to the role.

Feel free to use any examples which you can think of, whether their workplace, school/university
based or even in your personal life.

So, this role is for a Customer Service Advisor within our company Echo. Our advisors are experts in
helping our customers with a variety of different queries from paying a bill to supply issues. We offer
a comprehensive training package which enables our advisors to become experts in helping people,
as well as giving you a chance to develop your career within our company.

Our ideal candidates would be hardworking, enjoy working as a team and are customer driven.

Firstly, what is your availability like? What are your ideal working days and hours?

I’m looking for 37 hours, Monday to Friday. I’m willing to work the occasional weekend if the
company requires.

Okay, excellent. Do you have any initial questions before we start?

Not that I can think of.

Perfect. So, before we start with the competency-based questions, why are you interested in a
customer service role?

As you can see from my resume, I have an extensive background in customer service. I enjoy helping
people.

I volunteer for an Elderly home in my spare time, I have been doing this for the past 2 years and I can
honestly say, it is so rewarding.

The first question:

Describe a situation where it was important that you identified and understood the needs of others.

Early on in my career, I worked as a receptionist. My main job role was to answer any queries via
telephone and email and when we had visitors, to ensure that they were signed in, made
comfortable and were dealt with quickly and efficiently.

One day, I was working, and an elderly couple came into our reception. They weren’t visiting anyone
but stated that they had got lost and asked if we could provide directions.

I asked them where they were headed, and they mentioned that they were looking for a bus stop
that would take them to their location.

I googled this and printed off directions for them.

I carefully explained to the best of my knowledge where they needed to go.

I also provided them our contact number in case they needed any further assistance.

They were very grateful for the extra care I took.

Okay, so the next question is about delivering results and meeting customer expectation.

Tell me about a time when you needed to create something to a high quality.

During my 3rd year of university, I did a Dissertation which involved a lot of primary research, graphs
and findings.

I ended up having some positive results for my research and ended up with in-depth models and
graphs.

We used a programme to send our surveys to people, this was the biggest challenge as the
programme was outdated and not very user-friendly, so getting used to it was quite difficult.

I did manage to get the hang of it eventually as I found help early on and sourced tutorials on how to
use the programme.

Thank you for that answer, I can imagine how amazing overcoming that would have been for you.

Right, so. Next question:

Can you tell me about time when it was important that you followed a clear set of instructions or a
process?

When I worked in a call centre, we had strict targets. All our breaks were allocated to us. We also had
certain call time targets and templates to follow. Getting used to this was a challenge at first, but it
eventually became second nature for me, and I enjoyed having my day laid out and structured.

I’m glad you’ve had that sort of exposure as Echo works somewhat similar to the situation you
described above.

Additionally, there is no right or wrong answer here, to what extent do you feel it is appropriate to
challenge authority?

I feel comfortable challenging authority if I am unsure about something and want clarity.

The next question is about coping with pressure and setbacks.

Tell me about a time when you were given some feedback which you felt was unfair.

As I mentioned before, I volunteer as a Project Support Officer.

I followed a process to deal with a customer and one of my colleagues didn’t agree with what I had
done and sent me an email that came across as quite harsh.

I replied, explaining via email, the steps I had taken. This unfortunately, didn’t help the matter as
there was a lot of confusion.
I set up a Teams meeting with the colleague so we could get some clarity and clear the air. This
helped a lot and she said that the feedback she gave me was a little unfair as she didn’t 100%
understand the steps I had taken, but she now sees why I did what I did.

The customer ended up happy in the end so I’m certain that the process I followed was in fact, the
right thing to do, and from this I learnt the importance of face-to-face conversations and when and
how to communicate with others.

Thanks for that, communicating via email can be quite hard as you can’t see or hear the other person
so you cannot read the usual social cues.

Our final competency-based question is on adapting and responding to change.

Tell me about a time you felt it was particularly important that you adapted your behaviour to suit a
person or situation.

During a call at work, I had a customer that wasn’t very tech-savvy and they were getting frustrated.
Typically, we would email the customer a how-to guide and ask them to follow it. But I felt that this
would make the customer even more confused and result in a bad experience for that customer. So I
opted to help the customer over the phone to log in.

I talked them through it step-by-step.

A skill I learned from this is patience.

Although I worked in a pressurised environment, I didn’t let this affect the customer’s experience.

Perfect, thanks for that.

Now, I have just some basic, questions for you just so I can understand the type of employment
you’re looking for.

Can you commit to a full-time role?

Yes

We are required to complete a criminal record check for all employees, is there anything you wish to
declare?

No

Do you have a notice period?

No

Any holidays planned?

No

For the role, there is a 6-week induction plan. Is there any time off required in the first 6 weeks of
employment?
I do have an appointment on the 10th of January 2024, so would probably need a couple of hours off
for this.

Any questions?

No, I think you covered everything.